> I think the issue with mills for the heortlings may be more a matter
> of cost/benefit analysis. It is a lot of work to build a functional
> mill (especially getting the gears right without arithmetic or the
> concept of "pi"). They are also a fair bit of work to keep
> operating, as most will need continual adjustments, oiling, and so
> on. Also, for wind mills, repair and replacement of the sail cloth
> (and I imagine you'd need cloth from the best weavers to get any sort
> of efficiency anyway), and for water mills clearing of the troughs
> and buckets and what not. Note that maintenance is difficult and
> dangerous because you don't have a clutch to turn the things off.
I think you're making a lot of assumptions here about mill technology. The vane could be horizontal, in which case no gears are necessary. You can transmit the energy with leather belts instead of gears. You can have wooden vanes. You can have daimones increase the efficiency of the mill.
From britannica.com: "The earliest known references to wind-driven grain mills ... refer to a Persian millwright of AD 644, although windmills may actually have been used earlier. These mills ... had a vertical shaft with paddlelike sails radiating outward and were located in a building with diametrically opposed openings for the inlet and outlet of the wind. Each mill drove a single set of stones without gearing."
David Dunham <mailto:dunham_at_...>
Glorantha/HW/RQ page: <http://www.pensee.com/dunham/glorantha.html>
Imagination is more important than knowledge. -- Albert Einstein
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